Prompting service

ABSTRACT

Computer-readable media, systems, and methods are provided for prompting a customer of a service to submit digital content to the service in order to generate an online compilation. Input from the customer may be received in response to communications from the service. Temporal preference information may then be extracted from the input by determining time periods at which the customer most commonly provides the input in response to the communications. Based on the time periods at which the customer most commonly provides input, a prompting scheme may be derived, where the prompting scheme governs scheduling an automatic distribution of subsequent communications to the customer at the time periods at which the customer most commonly provides the input. The subsequent communications may then be distributed to the customer in accordance with the prompting scheme.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of pending U.S. applicationSer. No. 13/112,900, filed on May 20, 2011, entitled “PromptingService,” and having attorney Docket No. HALC.160625, the entirety ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Increasingly, online locations are being established to receive andorganize collections of media. These online locations (e.g., web sitesand social networks) are configured to allow a user to upload theirmedia upon visiting the web site. Occasionally, the online locationsprovide rudimentary mechanism(s) that communicate with the user for thepurpose of reminding the user of their relationship with the onlinelocation. Yet, these communications are simple in form andunsophisticated in timing and content of delivery. As such, the user isnot encouraged to submit additional media to the online location orrevisit the online location to access their media residing thereon.Accordingly, a novel service that introduces technology forintelligently soliciting, compiling, and managing the user's media wouldfully engage the user with the service and result in a robust collectionof the user's media/content at a single access-point.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used in isolation as an aid in determining the scope of the claimedsubject matter.

Embodiments of the present invention introduce a service for gatheringand managing digital content to establish a compilation (e.g., journal,photo album, or scrapbook) of the digital content in an online location.Often, the digital content is related in some manner to an event (e.g.,family vacation, wedding preparation, a baby's first year, and othermeaningful occasions). In an exemplary embodiment, the serviceperiodically sends communications to a customer of the service in orderto solicit information from the customer, where the solicitedinformation generally revolves around one or more events, or“occasions,” that the customer has previously established with theservice. As such, these solicitation-type communications, or “prompts,”allow the service to help the customer capture thoughts and memoriesalong the way and as the occasion is happening.

By way of example, the service may carry out various steps in order toensure that the user's digital-content compilation for a particularoccasion is being updated. Initially, the service may solicitinformation from a customer of the service by sending communications(e.g., emails or other digital prompts) to the customer on one or moreof the customer's devices (e.g., smart phone, home computer, PDA, laptopcomputer, and other computing devices) that are recognized by theservice. In some embodiments, the customer's device(s) are recognized bythe service upon installing an application thereto. Or, in otherembodiments, when the customer's device(s) are not recognized by theservice, the customer may interface with the service over apre-established networking account (e.g., email account or digital-mediaplan with a telecommunications company) that is known by the service.

Upon the customer responding to the communication(s), the service mayread the response and extract digital content (e.g., text, digitalphotos, video images, audio data, and the like) and/or textualinformation therefrom. The service is configured to then arrange theextracted digital content and textual information in an organizedfashion by using predefined formatting (e.g., slide shows, photo books,timelines, and greeting cards). Typically, the arrangement correspondswith the occasion (e.g., vacation, wedding, arrival of a newborn) thatwas selected by the customer upon setting up an account with theservice. The resulting digital-content compilation may be posted in asecure online location that allows the customer to access, manuallyedit, and distribute the information (e.g., digital content and textualinformation) previously submitted by the customer.

In one particular instance of the present invention, upon the customerselecting an occasion with the service, the service may tailor thecommunications to the customer in accordance with a theme surroundingthe occasion. For example, if the customer selects an occasion dealingwith her first baby boy, the service will offer a selection ofappropriate themes for the selected occasion and alter or customizecommunications with the customer to express the identified theme. Inthis example, altering the communications with the customer may includethe following: preparing a caption or title of the communication toreference a baby boy; incorporating a background design (e.g.,wallpaper) or graphical elements into the communication that relate to ababy boy; and including text within the communication that solicitsinformation (e.g., digital media or textual information) specificallyabout a baby boy.

Further, the theme of the selected occasion may permeate the onlinelocation that is established to host the customer's account. Withreference to the example theme of “baby boy” above, the service mayarrange the digital media received from the customer in a manner thatrelates to the theme, such that the digital media is ordered via atimeline that tracks childhood development of the subject (i.e., thebaby boy) of the occasion. In another instance, the digital media isarranged, in part, by information (e.g., comments, caption, or otherdescriptors) received from the customer that accompanies the digitalmedia. In yet another instance, the digital content is organized byinformation (e.g., time and date) automatically deciphered from thecustomer's response or the digital media provided. For example, theservice may automatically decipher that the media content (e.g., digitalimages, video files, audio recordings, and the like) is related to afirst birthday of the baby boy because the digital photo was sent in aresponse to the service's communication soliciting pictures from thesubject's birthday party.

These communications from the service that solicit content from thecustomer may be sent according to a prompting scheme that is dynamicallyupdated by the service. Initially, when developing the prompting scheme,information is accessed that describes preferences of the customer. Inembodiments, this information is aggregated by receiving the informationexplicitly upon the customer establishing or updating configurationsettings of an account with the service and/or by extracting theinformation implicitly from the customer's interactions with theservice. This information may then be used to derive a prompting schemethat governs scheduling of communication(s) that are automaticallydistributed to the customer. Typically, the communication(s) aredesigned to solicit feedback from the customer. At some later point intime, subsequent to delivering the communication(s), a response from thecustomer that includes content is received at the service. The service,generally on a real-time basis, extracts the content from the responseand publishes the received content in a coordinated fashion at a secureonline location that is managed by the service. Typically, the contentis published as part of a themed compilation, or project. In someembodiments, because the customer could have multiple ongoing projectswith the service at the same time (e.g., concurrently contributing to ababy's first year photo book, a photo slide show, and a print-on-demandcard), the online location may host and provide access to these variousprojects in connection with the customer's account.

As such, the technology introduced by embodiments of the presentinvention enables automatically prompting a customer to provide contentand compiling the content at an online location. With regard toautomatically prompting the customer, embodiments of the presentinvention involve developing a distribution schedule that may bemanipulated based on interactions measured from the customer (e.g.,behavior exhibited by the user upon the prompt being delivered). Thisdistribution schedule influences the timing of when prompts are issuedto the customer and/or the content of the prompts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are described in detail below withreference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary system architecture of adistributed computing environment configured for use in implementingembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary depiction of an illustrative prompt list, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting a first illustrative UserInterface (“UI”) display that includes a representation of a web pagefor accepting user-initiated selections of occasions, in accordance withembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram depicting a second illustrative UI displaythat includes a representative communication sent to a customer tosolicit feedback from the customer, in accordance with embodiments ofthe invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram depicting a third illustrative UI displaythat includes a display area configured for exposing a web page designedto receive content from the customer, in accordance with embodiments ofthe invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram depicting a fourth illustrative UI displaythat includes representations of entries to a journal that reflectcontent provided by the customer, in accordance with embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 7 is an overall flow diagram of a method for prompting the customerof the service to submit the content for the purpose of generating anonline compilation, in accordance with embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is an overall flow diagram of a method for adapting a format of asolicitation conveyed within a communication based upon a manner inwhich a customer interacts with the service, in accordance withembodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject matter of embodiments of the invention disclosed herein isdescribed with specificity to meet statutory requirements. However, thedescription itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent.Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed subject mattermight also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps orcombinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, inconjunction with other present or future technologies.

Generally, embodiments of the present invention introduce technology forrequesting feedback from a customer of a service by sendingcommunications (e.g., emails or text messages) according to a promptingscheme, where the prompting scheme is dynamically updatable by theservice as a function of interactions measured from the customer.Further, embodiments of the present invention involve organizingcontent, which is received in response to the communications, andformatting the communications based on a theme, where the theme isdistilled from an occasion (e.g., vacation, arrival of a newborn, andwedding) selected by the customer.

Initially, upon a customer signing up for the service, the customer isoffered the opportunity to select the temporal criteria for receivingprompts. For instance, selecting the “temporal criteria” may involvepermitting the customer to specify how often (e.g., daily, bi-weekly,weekly, on holidays, etc.) s/he prefers to receive a communication fromthe service. Accordingly, these temporal criteria are employed toestablish an initial version of a prompting scheme that influencesscheduling of the communications. Further, the customer is offered theopportunity to select an occasion that sets the theme for their onlinecompilation. In operation, the theme affects the content of the message(i.e., the concept underlying the purpose of the solicitation forfeedback) conveyed within the communications. By way of example, thecustomer may want to focus upon a vacation in progress. Accordingly, thecustomer may select an occasion that relates to taking a vacation, wherethe taking-a-vacation occasion governs the composition of thecommunications to the customer such that the communications act tosolicit information about the ongoing vacation, as opposed to anotherevent in the customer's life.

Upon receiving the communications, the customer may provide mediacontent and textual information (hereinafter collectively referred to as“content”) that is responsive to the communication. Typically, thiscontent is specifically solicited by the communications. Also, thiscontent may then be assembled within an online compilation that isformatted in accordance with the selected theme. Formatting theinformation may involve populating a template or layout with thecontent. In one instance, the content is entered within the template orthe layout based on user-provided information accompanying the content.Upon reading the user-provided information, the service automaticallyformats the content and incorporates the formatted content into ongoingproject(s) (e.g., active compilation(s) associated with the selectedoccasion), uses the formatted content to memorialize events as they arehappening, and suggests product outputs (e.g., greeting cards, photobooks, photo slideshows, and the like) from the content customers haveprovided.

The service may employ engines to implement operations associated withadvancing the customer's project(s). In one instance, an output engineis employed to compose and send communications that solicit feedbackfrom the user. An input engine may be employed to receive content fromthe customer in response to the solicitations. An adaptive engine may beemployed to learn from the content received from the customer, as wellas from the interactions between the customer and the service, and toautomatically tailor the message of the communications to the customerand/or the timing of distribution of the communications.

By way of example, the adaptive engine may glean from the customer'scontent (e.g., information provided to the service upon configuring anaccount) the occurrence of a birthday of the customer's child.Accordingly, the adaptive engine may tailor a pending communication byadding relevant language that asks about the child's birthday, whiledelivering the communication on or near the child's birthday. This mayoccur even if the date of the child's birthday was not originallyestablished by the customer within the temporal criteria.

The adaptive engine may also learn preferences of the customer bymonitoring and analyzing the customer's behavior (e.g., timeliness ofthe customer's responses and the type of information provided within theresponses). By way of example, the understanding of the customer'sbehavior allows the adaptive engine to recognize one or more projectsare nearing completion or to adjust the frequency at whichcommunications are sent to the customer. Accordingly, the adaptiveengine can self-customize the service to correspond with preferences ofthe customer.

Finally, the service may post the formatted content of the ongoingproject(s) at a secure online location such that the customer can followthe progress of the project(s). This secure online location may be webpage at a website, which is typically managed by the service. Or, inother embodiments, the secure online location may be a local storagespace on one of the customer's devices. Upon accessing the project(s)online or locally, any number and type of editing tools may be offeredto the customer for modifying the content posted by the service.Further, the service may include communication capabilities that allowthe customer to send out the posted content to friends, family, ormembers of a distribution list.

Having described an overview of embodiments of the present invention, anexemplary operating environment in which embodiments of the presentinvention may be implemented is described below in order to provide ageneral context for various aspects of the present invention.

The following discussion describes various embodiments of the presentinvention. Note that several of the exemplary embodiments describedbelow are based on specific applications of a service to make thediscussion more concrete. However, aspects of the present inventionshould not be construed as being limited to these particularapplications. That is, embodiments of the present invention may bedesigned to be applied to differing computing environments havingdisparate capabilities.

Referring initially to FIG. 1 in particular, a schematic block diagramof an exemplary system architecture of a distributed computingenvironment 100 configured for use in implementing embodiments of thepresent invention is shown. Initially, the distributed computingenvironment 100 includes a service 125 running on a computing device120. Functionality of the computing device 120 may be described in thegeneral context of computer code or machine-useable instructions,including computer-executable instructions such as program modules,being executed by a computer or other machine, such as a personal dataassistant or other handheld device. Generally, program modules includingroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., refer tocode that performs particular tasks or implements particular abstractdata types. The invention may be practiced in a variety of systemconfigurations, including handheld devices, consumer electronics,general-purpose computers, more specialty computing devices, etc. Theinvention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments100 where tasks are performed by remote-processing devices that arelinked through a communications network 110.

In embodiments, the computing device 120 includes a bus that directly orindirectly couples the following devices: memory, one or moreprocessors, one or more presentation components, input/output (I/O)ports, input/output components, and an illustrative power supply. Thebus represents what may be one or more busses (such as an address bus,data bus, or combination thereof). Further, the computing device 120typically includes a variety of computer-readable media.Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby computing device 120 and includes both volatile and nonvolatilemedia, removable and nonremovable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatileand nonvolatile, removable and nonremovable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. Computer storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM,ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium, which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by computing device 120.

Communication media typically embody computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated datasignal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includeany information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as awired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such asacoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any ofthe above should also be included within the scope of computer-readablemedia.

Technology, introduced by embodiments of the present invention, involvesa customer 140 interacting with the service 125 in order to establish anaccount and develop, over time, project(s) associated with the accountthat track one or more occasions or events that the customer 140 isexperiencing. The exemplary system architecture of the distributedcomputing environment 100 is employed to carry out these above-mentionedgoals. It should be understood and appreciated that the exemplary systemarchitecture shown in FIG. 1 is merely an example of one suitablecomputing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation asto the scope of use or functionality of the present invention. Neithershould the exemplary system architecture be interpreted as having anydependency or requirement related to any single component or combinationof components illustrated therein.

Initially, the exemplary system architecture includes a computing device120, a computing device 141, a mobile device 142, a client device 143,data stores 130, and a network 110 that interconnects each of theseitems. The computing device 141, mobile device 142, and client device143 are each registered to the customer 140 and shall be hereinaftercollectively referred to as the devices 141-143. Each of the computingdevice 120, the data stores 130, and the devices 141-143 shown in FIG.1, may take the form of various types of computing devices. By way ofexample only and not limitation, the computing device 120, the datastores 130, and the devices 141-143 may be a personal computer, desktopcomputer, laptop computer, consumer electronic device, handheld device(e.g., personal digital assistant), various servers, processingequipment, and the like. It should be noted, however, that the inventionis not limited to implementation on such computing devices but may beimplemented on any of a variety of different types of computing deviceswithin the scope of embodiments of the present invention.

Typically, each of the computing device 120, the data stores 130, andthe devices 141-143 is linked to some form of computing unit (e.g.,central processing unit, microprocessor, etc.) to support operations ofthe component(s) running thereon (e.g., engines 121-123 and the like).As utilized herein, the phrase “computing unit” generally refers to adedicated computing device with processing power and storage memory,which supports operating software that underlies the execution ofsoftware, applications, and computer programs thereon. In one instance,the computing unit is configured with tangible hardware elements, ormachines, that are integral, or operably coupled, to the computingdevice 120, the data stores 130, and the devices 141-143 to enable eachdevice to perform communication-related processes and other operations(e.g., accessing the data stores 130 or updating a prompting schedule orscheme 131). In another instance, the computing unit may encompass aprocessor (not shown) coupled to the computer-readable medium, asdiscussed above.

Generally, the computer-readable medium includes physical memory thatstores, at least temporarily, a plurality of computer softwarecomponents that are executable by the processor. As utilized herein, theterm “processor” is not meant to be limiting and may encompass anyelements of the computing unit that act in a computational capacity. Insuch capacity, the processor may be configured as a tangible articlethat processes instructions. In an exemplary embodiment, processing mayinvolve fetching, decoding/interpreting, executing, and writing backinstructions.

Also, beyond processing instructions, the processor may transferinformation to and from other resources that are integral to, ordisposed on, the computing device 120, the data stores 130, and thedevices 141-143. Generally, resources refer to software components orhardware mechanisms that enable performance of a particular function. Byway of example only, the resources accommodated by the computing device120 may include one or more of the engines 121-123.

The computing device 141 may include an input device (not shown) and apresentation device 215. Generally, the input device is provided toreceive input(s) affecting, among other things, a presentation ofcontent at the online location in a browser window 225 surfaced at a UIdisplay area 220. Illustrative input devices include a mouse, joystick,key pad, microphone, I/O components of FIG. 1, or any other componentcapable of receiving a user input and communicating an indication ofthat input to the computing device 120. By way of example only, theinput device facilitates entry of content and the location of aselection tool (e.g., mouse pointer) hovering over a manifest ofoptions, as discussed below.

In embodiments, the presentation device 215 is configured to renderand/or present the UI display 220 thereon. The presentation device 215,which is operably coupled to an output of the computing device 141, maybe configured as any presentation component that is capable ofpresenting information to a user, such as a digital monitor, electronicdisplay panel, touch-screen, analog set top box, plasma screen, audiospeakers, Braille pad, and the like. In one exemplary embodiment, thepresentation device 215 is configured to present rich content, such asthe browser window 225 that includes a display area populated withcontent of the customer's compilation (e.g., digital images). In anotherexemplary embodiment, the presentation device 215 is capable ofrendering other forms of media (e.g., textual information as journalentries).

The data store(s) 130 are generally configured to store informationassociated with the customer 140 and/or attributes and preferences ofthe customer 140, as discussed below. In various embodiments, suchinformation may include, without limitation, a prompting scheme 131, auser profile 132 (e.g., maintaining attributes of the customer 140), anda prompt list 133. In addition, the data store(s) 130 may be configuredto be searchable for suitable access of the stored information. Forinstance, the data store(s) 130 may be searchable for temporal criteriaentered by the customer 140 that dictate a frequency at whichcommunications are distributed from the service 125. It will beunderstood and appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art thatthe information stored in the data store(s) 130 may be configurable andmay include any information relevant to the maintenance of an onlinecompilation. The content and volume of such information are not intendedto limit the scope of embodiments of the present invention in any way.Further, though illustrated as single, independent components, the datastore(s) 130 may, in fact, be a plurality of databases, for instance, adatabase cluster, portions of which may reside on the computing device120, the devices 141-143, another external computing device (not shown),and/or any combination thereof.

This exemplary system architecture is but one example of a suitableenvironment that may be implemented to carry out aspects of the presentinvention and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scopeof use or functionality of the invention. Neither should the illustratedexemplary system architecture be interpreted as having any dependency orrequirement relating to any one or combination of the computing device120, the data stores 130, the devices 141-143, and engines 121-123, asillustrated. In some embodiments, one or more of the engines 121-123 maybe implemented as stand-alone devices. In other embodiments, one or moreof the engines 121-123 may be integrated directly into the computingdevice 120, or on distributed nodes that interconnect to form thecomputing device 120. It will be understood by those of ordinary skillin the art that the engines 121-123 are exemplary in nature and innumber and should not be construed as limiting.

Accordingly, any number of components may be employed to achieve thedesired functionality within the scope of embodiments of the presentinvention. Although the various components of FIG. 1 are shown withlines for the sake of clarity, in reality, delineating variouscomponents is not so clear, and, metaphorically, the lines would moreaccurately be grey or fuzzy. Further, although some components of FIG. 1are depicted as single blocks, the depictions are exemplary in natureand in number and are not to be construed as limiting (e.g., althoughonly one presentation device 215 is shown, many more may becommunicatively coupled to the computing device 141).

Further, the devices of the exemplary system architecture may beinterconnected by any method known in the relevant field. For instance,the computing device 120 and the devices 141-143 may be operably coupledvia a distributed computing environment that includes multiple computingdevices coupled with one another via one or more networks 110. Inembodiments, the network 110 may include, without limitation, one ormore local area networks (LANs) and/or wide area networks (WANs). Suchnetworking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-widecomputer networks, intranets, and the Internet. Accordingly, the networkis not further described herein.

In operation, the engines 121-123 are designed to perform a process thatincludes, at least, the steps of sending communication(s) 111 thatsolicit feedback from the customer 140 and accepting responses 112 thatconvey content for incorporation into ongoing project(s). Initially, asillustrated in FIG. 1, the customer 140 may set up an account with theservice 125. In some embodiments, setting up the account may involvelinking email addresses to or registering phone numbers with theservice. In these embodiments, the customer may provide their phonenumber, email address, and/or text-messaging address to the service whenestablishing configuration settings for the customer's account. In otherembodiments, the customer may allow the devices 141-143 to be recognizedby the account. In these embodiments, the communications 111 sent to thedevices 141-143 are configured based on a known type of device, uponbeing recognized by the service. Alternatively, the communications 111may be system agnostic, yet cater to the customer's preferences (e.g.,there exists a pre-established desire to receive communications 111 astext messages).

When setting up the account, the service 125 may request that thecustomer 140 explicitly provide information that assists the service 125in guiding the customer 140 through the design and maintenance of theonline compilation. For instance, the service 125 may present aplurality of customizable options that the customer 140 may select. Inembodiments, the customizable options may include a listing of topics,occasions, or “stories,” that are to be the theme of the onlinecompilation. In other embodiments, the customizable options may includetemporal criteria of the communications 111 distributed from the service125. Generally, the “temporal criteria” set a timeframe for receivingcommunications 111 that solicit content from the customer 140. By way ofexample, the customer 140 may set the temporal criteria such that emailsare sent twice a week to the customer 140, where the emails solicitfeedback from the customer to provide content that adds to an onlinecompilation.

Typically, the temporal criteria are used to establish an initialconfiguration of the prompting scheme 131. As used herein, the phrase“prompting scheme” is meant to be interpreted broadly and acts tocontrol when, what, and how communications 111 are distributed from theservice 125 to the customer 140. In embodiments, the prompting scheme131 controls a schedule that influences when communications 111 are sentto the customer 140. In addition, the prompting scheme 131 may controlthe type of solicitation (e.g., requesting content and commentsregarding a vacation) carried within the communications 111. Asdiscussed above, the prompting scheme 131 may be updated by monitoringand analyzing interactions between the customer 140 and the service 125.

In other embodiments, the manifest of options may allow the customer 140to indicate aspects surrounding the selected occasion. For instance, ifthe selected occasion relates to the arrival of a child (i.e., thesubject of the online compilation), the customer may be asked to inputsuch aspects as the gender and the birthday of the subject. As a result,the service 125 may generate a gender-appropriate theme for the onlinecompilation or use the subject's birthday to internally track age,thereby avoiding irrelevant communications 111, such as asking if thesubject has talked during the subject's first year. Further, theservice's knowledge of the subject's birthday may allow for predictionof what is happening at certain phases of the subject's development andfor generation of age-appropriate solicitations.

In a particular embodiment of the present invention, the promptingscheme 131 may interact with the prompt list 133 to arrive upon theappropriate type of solicitation that is presented to the customer 140.With reference to FIG. 2, an exemplary prompt list 200 is illustrated,where the entries within the prompt list 200 are focused on anewborn-baby-style occasion. Thus, in this example, the customer 140 hadpreviously selected an occasion of “baby” from the manifest of options,which sets a theme for the online compilation. The adaptive engine 123may then access the prompting scheme 131 to determine the age of thesubject of the occasion and compare the age against the timeframe 210 toidentify those solicitations that are age-appropriate. For instance, ifthe subject is about three weeks old, the solicitation 230 may beidentified for distribution to the customer 140.

Further, the adaptive engine 123 may access the prompting scheme 131 todetermine the temporal criteria 280 defined by the customer 140 in orderto identify a time-appropriate solicitation. By way of example, if thecustomer 140 indicated that s/he prefers to receive communications 111three times a week, the solicitation 250 may be identified astime-appropriate. Further yet, the adaptive engine 123 may access theprompting scheme 131 to determine what type of solicitation the customer140 prefers (e.g., concise or detailed solicitations within thecommunications 111 from the service 125). If the customer 140 prefersconcise solicitations, the solicitation 240 may be identified asformat-appropriate, where the solicitation 240 simply prompts thecustomer 140 to fill in blanks or offer pertinent information. Incontrast, if the customer 140 prefers complex solicitations, thesolicitation 260 may be identified as format-appropriate, where thesolicitation 260 prompts the customer 140 to provide detailedinformation (e.g., recounting a story or memory of the subject). Itshould be noted that the format, or composition, of the solicitationbeing sent to the customer 140 may be established initially (e.g.,through the selections at the manifest of options) or updateddynamically (e.g., upon monitoring and analyzing the customer's behaviorwith respect to certain types of solicitations).

Turning back to FIG. 1, upon the adaptive engine 123 identifying a typeof solicitation to send to the customer 140, the output engine 121proactively sends out the solicitation within one or more communications111. These communications 111 may be formatted based on the theme of theselected occasion. For instance, if the occasion of a wedding isselected, the communications 111 may be formatted with a template orbackground that expresses the theme of the wedding (e.g., graphicalelements of a wedding dress and cake). Further, a color pallet of thecommunications 111 may correspond with the subject's chosen weddingcolors, upon the customer 140 providing such information. Accordingly,the theme of the selected occasion is coordinated throughout thecustomer's 140 experience with the service 125 (e.g., employing thetheme to establish a design of the online location at which thecustomer's project(s) are posted).

In an exemplary embodiment, the customer 140 may select an occasion and,at a later time, select an assignment relevant to the occasion. As usedherein, the term “assignment” generally pertains to a project within aproject, where the customer 140 asks for additional solicitationsrelated to a specific concept. By way of example, if the selectedoccasion represents a vacation, the assignment may relate to a day-tripduring the vacation. Thus, in this example, the output engine 121 may beconfigured to send communications 111 that solicit specific feedback(e.g., digital photos and commentary) surrounding a particular day of avacation.

Besides accepting user-initiated assignments, the service 125 mayautomatically invoke assignments based on information provided by thecustomer 140 and/or external data. Those automatically invokedassignments that are based on customer-provided information may includeage-appropriate solicitations for content of a subject's birthday. Inother embodiments, those automatically invoked assignments that arebased on external data may include season-appropriate solicitations forcontent related to a holiday or time of year.

Upon receiving the communications 111 at one or more of the devices141-143, the customer 140 may elect to reply to the solicitations withinthe communications 111 by providing a response 112. The response 112 mayinclude any form of content (e.g., digital media, textual information,and the like) and may incorporate or respond to all or part of thesolicitation of the communication 111, as more fully discussed below. Inone instance, the response 112 may be a communication (e.g., email ortext message) carrying content from the customer 140 in reply to thecommunication 111. In another instance, the response 112 may be anupload of content to an online location (e.g., uploading a digital phototo a web page assigned to the customer 140). In an exemplary embodiment,the customer 140 may navigate to the online location upon selecting alink embedded within the communication 111.

The input engine 122 is enabled to receive the response 112 and extractthe content and accompanying information therefrom. That is, the inputengine 122 is configured to consume the response 112, recognize thecontent, and pull the content from the response 112 for incorporationwithin the customer's online compilation (e.g., submit the content as anentry into a journal). In an exemplary embodiment, the input engine 122interfaces with the adaptive engine 123 to facilitate updating theprompting scheme 131 by exposing how the customer is currently replyingto the communications 111.

Although the responses 112 have been described as being provided by thecustomer 140, it should be understood and appreciated that otherentities may provide the responses 112 to the service 125, and thatembodiments of the present invention are not limited specificindividuals as described herein. For instance, content may be providedby other people besides the customer 140, or may be retrieved from otherdata stores 130 besides the manual uploads.

Turning now to FIGS. 3-6, schematic diagrams depicting illustrative UIdisplays, in accordance with embodiments of the invention, will now bediscussed. Initially, the UI display 300 depicts a representation of aweb page 320 for accepting user-initiated selections of occasions. Inembodiments, the web page 320 may belong to a website 310 managed by theservice and generated for the customer upon establishing an account. Asillustrated in the exemplary embodiment, the web page 320 includes atitle bar 325 (e.g., confirming an identity of the customer), a manifestof options 327 (e.g., prompting the customer to select an occasion to bethe theme of the project(s)), and a plurality of products 326 that aregenerated using the content and information provided by the customer. Asmore fully discussed below, the plurality of products 326 may beavailable for purchase and, thus, developed to monetize the service.

Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic diagram depicting an illustrative UIdisplay 400 that includes a representative communication sent to acustomer to solicit feedback from the customer is shown, in accordancewith embodiments of the invention. The communication (e.g.,communication 111 of FIG. 1) includes a title bar 410 (e.g.,articulating the occasion selected by the customer), a solicitation 420(e.g., identified from the prompt list 133) and links 430, 431, 440, and441. As discussed above, the solicitation 420 is employed to gathercontent from the customer to update the online compilation. Inembodiments, the links 430, 431, 440, and 441, upon selection, navigatethe customer to either the online location of the compilation (e.g.,links 430 and 431) or allow the customer to transfer the content to athird party (e.g., 440 and 441). Alternatively, the links 430 and 431could prompt the output engine 121 to send out an alternate solicitationin a new communication 111 to be responded to by the customer.

Upon selecting one of the links 430 or 431, the customer may arrive atan online location established for receiving content. Turning now toFIG. 5, a schematic diagram depicting an illustrative UI display 500that is configured for exposing a web page 520 designed to receivecontent from the customer is shown, in accordance with embodiments ofthe invention. The content may take the form of the solicitation 540within additional information added by the customer. Or, in otherembodiments, the content may take the form of digital media (e.g., image550) that is imported to the online compilation. Further, in anexemplary embodiment, the UI display may include a survey mechanism 530for rating the solicitation 540. In embodiments, the rating may be sentto the adaptive engine (e.g., reference numeral 123 of FIG. 1) for thepurpose of customizing the topic and/or composition of thecommunications sent to the customer.

With reference to FIG. 6, a schematic diagram depicting an illustrativeUI display 600 that includes representations of entries 630, 640, and650 to a journal 625 that reflect content provided by the customer isshown, in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As illustrated,the occasion selected by the customer relates to the first year(s) of anewborn. As such, the entries 630, 640, and 650 portray content thatdescribe events of the subject's development. These entries 630, 640,and 650 show content that includes solicitations, textual information,and digital media. However, it should be understood and appreciated thatthe entries 630, 640, and 650 may include any type of content known inthe relevant field of technology.

In embodiments, the plurality of products 326 is shown within the UIdisplay 600. These products 326 are ones that correspond with theoccasion targeted by the customer. For instance, the products 326 mayinvolve the theme that is distilled from the occasion selected by thecustomer. Further, the products 326 may be customized and generated toinclude content provided by the customer, such that the products 326 areenticing for purchase. These products 326 are not limited to anyspecific items and may include such consumables as photo albums,electronic greetings, personalized messages populated with the content,photo books that incorporate graphical elements associated with thetheme, e-cards (e.g., baby business cards or wedding save-the-datecards), ornaments, video slide shows with a playlist of the content,calendars, etc. In one embodiment, a curator component is responsiblefor organizing the content into the products 326. Typically, organizingthe content involves tagging the content using information (e.g.,metadata) accompanying the content, selecting a layout of the products326 based on the theme, and populating (e.g., locating and orientatingthe content within the layout) in accordance with the tags. In anotherembodiment, or in parallel with the embodiment above, customers maysupply metadata by tagging content prior to, or subsequent to,submission to the service. In this way, the service is operable toaccept from disparate sources a variety of metadata appended to thesubmitted content (i.e., including external and internal contributors)and is designed to merge the metadata intelligently such that thecontent is appropriately categorized upon being published at the onlinecompilation(s) and/or properly labeled upon being incorporated withinthe ongoing project(s).

Turning now to FIG. 7, an overall flow diagram of a method 700 forprompting the customer of the service to submit the content for thepurpose of generating an online compilation is shown, in accordance withembodiments of the invention. Although the terms “step” and/or “block”may be used herein to connote different elements of methods employed,the terms should not be interpreted as implying any particular orderamong or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except whenthe order of individual steps is explicitly described.

Initially, when developing the prompting scheme, information is accessedthat describes preferences of the customer, as depicted at block 702. Inembodiments, this information is aggregated by receiving the informationexplicitly upon the customer establishing or updating configurationsettings of an account with the service (see block 704) and/or byextracting the information implicitly from the customer's interactionswith the service (see block 706). Extracting the information implicitlymay include monitoring time periods at which the customer most commonlyresponds to communication(s) from the service. This information may thenbe used to derive a prompting scheme that governs the scheduling ofcommunication(s) that are automatically distributed to the customer, asdepicted by block 708. For example, the communication(s) may bescheduled to be automatically distributed at the time periods at whichthe customer most commonly responds, and the communication(s) may thenbe automatically distributed according to that prompting scheme. Thetime periods at which the customer most commonly responds may include atleast one of an at-work timeframe or an after-work timeframe. Typically,the communication(s) are designed to solicit feedback from the customer.At some later point in time, upon delivering the communication(s), aresponse from the customer that includes content is received at theservice. This is depicted at block 710. The service, generally on areal-time basis, pulls the content from the response and publishes thereceived content at an online location that is managed by the service,as depicted at block 712.

Referring to FIG. 8, an overall flow diagram of a method 800 foradapting a format of a solicitation conveyed within a communicationbased upon a manner in which a customer interacts with the service isshown, in accordance with embodiments of the invention. The method 800involves the step of automatically sending a first communication to thecustomer. Typically, the first communication includes an initialsolicitation for feedback with respect to an account established withthe service, as depicted at block 802. The interaction between thecustomer and the service is measured upon receiving the firstcommunication, as depicted at block 804. In embodiments, as depicted atblock 806, a prompting scheme may be established or updated as afunction of the measured interaction. As depicted at block 808, a secondcommunication may be formatted by the service for distribution to thecustomer.

The step of formatting the second communication (e.g., language of anemail) comprises various processes including the following: selectinglanguage of a tailored solicitation for feedback as a function of theupdated prompting scheme (see block 810); and importing the tailoredsolicitation for feedback within the second communication (see block812). Upon formatting the second communication, the second communicationis sent to the customer, as depicted at block 814.

Various embodiments of the invention have been described to beillustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments willbecome apparent from time to time without departing from the scope ofembodiments of the inventions. It will be understood that certainfeatures and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed withoutreference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated byand is within the scope of the claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. One or more computer-readable media havingcomputer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed bya computing device having a processor and memory, perform a method forprompting a customer of a service to submit digital content to theservice in order to generate an online compilation, the methodcomprising: receiving input from the customer of the service, the inputreceived in response to one or more communications from the service,wherein the one or more communications solicit feedback from thecustomer with respect to the online compilation; extracting temporalpreference information from the input by determining time periods atwhich the customer most commonly provides the input in response to theone or more communications from the service; at the processor, based onthe time periods at which the customer most commonly provides the input,deriving a prompting scheme that governs scheduling an automaticdistribution of one or more subsequent communications to the customer atthe time periods at which the customer most commonly provides the input;and distributing the one or more subsequent communications to thecustomer in accordance with the prompting scheme such that the one ormore subsequent communications are automatically distributed at the timeperiods at which the customer most commonly provides the input.
 2. Themedia of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: in response tothe one or more subsequent communications, receiving a submission ofdigital content from the customer; and publishing the submitted digitalcontent at an online location that is managed by the service.
 3. Themedia of claim 2, wherein deriving the prompting scheme is further basedon temporal criteria indicated by the customer, the temporal criteriarelating to a communication timing and a communication frequency.
 4. Themedia of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises receiving acustomer selection of an occasion.
 5. The media of claim 4, wherein themethod further comprises: based on the occasion and a time associatedwith the occasion, determining an appropriate type of solicitation toinclude in the one or more subsequent communications and determining anappropriate time at which to distribute the one or more subsequentcommunications including the appropriate type of solicitation; and atthe appropriate time, distributing the one or more communicationsincluding the appropriate type of solicitation.
 6. The media of claim 5,wherein determining the appropriate type of solicitation comprisesdetermining an age-appropriate solicitation based on an age of a child.7. The media of claim 4, wherein the method further comprisesdetermining a theme based on the customer selection of the occasion. 8.The media of claim 7, wherein a layout of the one or more communicationsis formatted based on the theme.
 9. The media of claim 7, whereinlanguage of the one or more communications is based on the theme. 10.The media of claim 2, wherein the online location represents a web pageof a website hosted by the service, and wherein the online compilationis posted on the web page and is accessible to the customer.
 11. Themedia of claim 2, wherein the time periods represent at least one of anat-work timeframe and an after-work timeframe.
 12. A computerized methodfor prompting a customer of a service to submit digital content to theservice in order to generate an online compilation of the digitalcontent, the method comprising: sending one or more communications tothe customer of the service, wherein the one or more communicationssolicit feedback from the customer with respect to the onlinecompilation; based on an interaction of the customer with the one ormore communications, determining a format preference for the customerwith respect to the one or more communications; at a computing devicehaving a processor and memory, deriving a prompting scheme forautomatically distributing to the customer one or more futurecommunications that satisfy the format preference for the customer; anddistributing the one or more future communications to the customer inaccordance with the prompting scheme.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the format preference for the customer with respect to the oneor more communications comprises either a preference for concisesolicitations or a preference for detailed solicitations.
 14. The methodof claim 13, wherein determining the format preference for the customercomprises determining whether the customer is more responsive to eitherconcise solicitations or detailed solicitations.
 15. The method of claim13, further comprising, based on determining the format preference forthe customer comprises the preference for concise solicitations,determining that a communication including a fill-in-the-blanksolicitation satisfies the format preference for the customer.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising distributing the communicationincluding the fill-in-the-blank solicitation to the customer inaccordance with the prompting scheme.
 17. The method of claim 13,further comprising, based on determining the format preference for thecustomer comprises the preference for detailed solicitations,determining that a communication including a solicitation for detailedinformation satisfies the format preference for the customer.
 18. Themethod of claim 17, wherein the solicitation for the detailedinformation solicits a customer narrative describing a personal story.19. The method of claim 17, further comprising distributing thecommunication including the solicitation for the detailed information tothe customer in accordance with the prompting scheme.
 20. A computersystem for establishing a prompting scheme that governs a distributionof one or more communications to a customer of a service, the one ormore communications prompting the customer to submit digital content tothe service in order to generate an online compilation of the digitalcontent, the computer system comprising a processing unit coupled to acomputer-storage medium, the computer-storage medium having storedthereon a plurality of software components executable by the processingunit, the plurality of software components comprising: an input enginethat receives input from the customer of the service, the input receivedin response to the one or more communications from the service, whereinthe one or more communications solicit feedback from the customer withrespect to the online compilation; an adaptive engine that: extractstemporal preference information from the input by determining timeperiods at which the customer most commonly provides the input inresponse to the one or more communications from the service, extractsformat preference information from the input by analyzing a type ofcontent included in the input, the type of content comprising at leastone of a concise content and a detailed content, and based on thetemporal preference information and the format preference information,derives the prompting scheme that governs a distribution of the one ormore communications to the customer of the service; and an output enginethat distributes the one or more communications to the customer inaccordance with the prompting scheme.